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END-OF-CHAPTER SUPPORT
MARKETING DEBATE—Whom Should You Target With New Products?
Some new products experts maintain that getting close to customers through intensive research is
the only way to develop successful new products. Other experts disagree and maintain that
customers can’t possibly provide useful feedback on what they don’t know and can’t provide
insights that will lead to breakthrough products.
Take a position: Consumer research is critical to new product development versus consumer
research may not be all that helpful in new product development.
Pro: Simply put, launching new products costs companies a lot of money. Some estimates are in the
100’s of millions of dollars for consumer products, even more for certain industrial and governmental
ones. With so much money at stake, companies must find out what their consumers/customers prefer
and the features they would buy. Remember, the adoption process for new items goes through 1) an
individual’s readiness to try new products; 2) the effect of personal influence on/for the new product;
3) the differing rates of adoption (personal comfort zones); 4) and the differences in some
organizations to try new products. Companies are not at liberty to “buy” because the product is “new.”
The features and benefits of the product must show the company how it can save time and/or save
money.
Con: Marketers today are spending too much of their time and money on creating “cookie-cutter”
products that are boring and do not answer consumer needs. The science of consumer understanding
is elementary at best. How else can you explain a new product failure rate of over 90% in the U.S. and
95% in Europe. We kid ourselves by thinking that we “understand” the consumer—all we understand
is what might happen in a controlled environment. The marketplace is far from “controlled” and as
such, we lose our perspectives.
It would be far better for marketers to use their energies to create new and exciting groundbreaking
products rather than playing it safe.
MARKETING DISCUSSION
Think about the last new product you bought. How do you think its success will be affected by the
five characteristics of an innovation: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, divisibility, and
communicability?
Student answers will differ depending upon their last new product chosen but all answers should
address each of these five characteristics.
Marketing Excellence: Apple
1) Apple’s product launches over the past decade have been monumental. What makes the
company so good at innovation? Is anyone comparable to Apple in this respect?
Suggested Answer: Apple’s innovative design skills for one and the simultaneous launch of
2) How important was the iPod to Apple’s current success? Discuss the significance of the
iPhone and iPad launches to Apple’s new product development strategy.
3) It has been a few years since Apple’s last epic innovation. What’s next for Apple?
Marketing Excellence: Salesforce.com
Questions
1. Why has Salesforce.com been so successful? What did the company do well when it created
and expanded its product offerings?
2. What are some of the challenges Salesforce.com faces in the near future?
3. What other products and services might Salesforce.com offer next? Why?
